Welcome to the Jewish Volunteer Center

By Lori on 12/07/2010 @ 12:56 PM

Welcome to the Jewish Volunteer Center, I am so glad that you found us!

My name is Lori Drutz and I am the Director of the Jewish Volunteer Center (JVC). It’s no coincidence that my career led me to the Greater Miami Jewish Federation JVC. Jewish service with a solution just happens to be one of my passions. As a teen I volunteered in Washington, D.C. with the homeless in a four-day program called Panim el Panim; that’s where my volunteer journey began. The JVC is a place where you can have meaningful and inspiring experiences. Who knows — they could even be life changing! We are so excited to help you get started!

Let me tell you just what the JVC is so you have a better understanding of everything we do!

We were founded over 13 years ago as a clearinghouse for the Jewish community to be able to give time to our Partner Agencies, synagogues, Jewish day schools and other organizations. One of the highlights of volunteering with the JVC is that we partner with other agencies in Miami-Dade so that you, the volunteer, can have full exposure to the needs that are here in our own backyard. You will find an array of opportunities in and out of the Jewish community in which to be involved.

Volunteers who come through the JVC have volunteered on their own — visiting older adults in their homes, tutoring children in Jewish day schools and working with Holocaust survivors. And those are just a few of over 80 opportunities of which our volunteers have taken advantage.

We know not everyone has the time to give back on an ongoing basis. That is why we have created our community-wide, family friendly volunteer programs. Two of our biggest opportunities are “Everything but the Turkey” and “December 25th Jewish Community Volunteer Day.” This year we have over five one-time programs, and we will blog about each one as they get closer.

I’d also like to tell you about how the JVC helps the tweens and teens in our community. In addition to the programs you are about to read about, we can also help you fulfill your school service hours!

For our tweens (also known as B’nai Mitzvah students), we offer the Young Lion of Judah program. B’nai Mitzvah students are paired with Holocaust Survivors who never had the opportunity to become Bar/Bat Mitzvah. The survivors and students meet together four times and at their bar/bat mitzvah service, the survivor is honored in a special way. At the end of the program participants receive a silver Young Lion bracelet for the girls, and talit clips for the boys. If this does not sound like the perfect program for you, we can help you design a Young Lion project that can help change our world.

For our High School Teens, the JVC offers Mitzvah Miami/J-Serve which is in its 13th year. Mitzvah Miami is a large scale "by teens for teens" service project. Twenty participants plan the program and over 80 attend each year. Our committee is very creative and they come up with a new, trendy service project each year. I guess since we are in our 13th year, we should volunteer as bar/ bat mitzvah entertainment? Just a joke, but really, what a special year it will be for this program.

I hope you will read our blog as we update it. Sometimes you will see blogs from our volunteer events, written by a volunteer. Other times you may see an inspiring story or a “wow moment” that happened while we were serving our community. Who knows, the next blog could be about you!

I hope you will come to a volunteer program or call me to find the perfect ongoing volunteer opportunity for you in our community. If you have any questions, or need any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

In the spirit of Tikkun Olam,
Lori